Severa's Birthday Treat
by Gallian Squad 7
Summary: To her, it was a day like any other, and it sure seemed to go like any other. But even though she doesn't know it, her family's more than ready to make sure she has a happy birthday. (Short and sweet one-shot. Happy B-day Severa!)


**Short and sweet, just something for my favorite fictional daughter's b-day!**

**Let's get to it!**

The day started like any other. Get up, try to make herself look human, kick her sister awake, and head to the training field. After that, spar with whoever was there or take out the night's frustrations on a helpless dummy. Then her sister came flying in demanding a duel to the death for _daring_ to wake her so rudely.

Severa snorted, Morgan's indignant face one of her lone sources of amusement in the forsaken camp. They'd been marching for weeks now, dealing with Valmese or Risen as they came across them, and it was easy to get bogged down as was. Add the ever-present threat of Grima's rise to the mix and she could be forgiven for being in a surlier mood than usual.

Not like she was ever _not_ surly and sarcastic, but the point stood.

Shaking her head, Severa stomped through the camp, Morgan on her back. Her sister had come at her with all the ferocity of the truly indignant, but it made her sloppy. As such, Severa saw no issue in laying the brat out, even if it garnered a few stinging bruises in retaliation.

"You're still a jerk." Morgan mumbled into Severa's ear. "Stop… kicking me awake."

Severa adjusted her grip with a huff. "Please, if I didn't do that you'd sleep until noon. Besides, at least you're up now and Mom won't ream you for being late to the meetings."

Morgan muttered a curse of some sort and Severa jostled her. With the pecking order clearly established, she resumed the trek to the healing tent, none of their fellow Shepherds bothering to stop them. On arrival, they were met with Libra. "Oh? And what brings you two here this fine morning?"

"Severa beat me up!" Morgan whined, receiving a swift elbow for her trouble. "Ugh… and she's still beating me up!"

Severa glowered at her. "_You_ came screaming to_ me_ about wanting an honorable duel! It's not my fault you kept swinging like a toddler!"

Libra put a hand on Severa's shoulder. "Calm yourself, I understand what's going on. Please, bring her inside, I'll see to her."

Severa scoffed and did just that, throwing a parting insult Morgan's way before leaving her in the tent. She didn't hear the rebuttal, but she was sure it was petty beyond good sense. For all that girl's tactical brilliance and skill with a lance, she couldn't come up with a good comeback with a sword to her throat.

"Need to get my chores over with." Severa grumbled to herself, ignoring the pitiful growl of her stomach. She didn't want to eat with everyone there, even if Stahl would make sure she'd have to raid the supplies. Better to put off having to explain why she put her 'precious' little sister in the dirt.

With that in mind, she went to the convoy wagons and started gathering all the old weapons. Her job today was to figure out what needed replacing and what could be repaired. After that, she had a patrol with Gerome, which was _bound_ to be fun, then it was kitchen duty and night patrol. All because she'd accidentally forgotten to tie Frederick's horse to the wagons.

Severa snorted and started going through the pile she'd gathered. "Too rusty, broken near in two, workable, splintered… goopy?"

She gagged and tossed _that_ lance head far away. Like hell she'd handle something someone hadn't bothered to wash. Gawds.

She kept going for a few minutes before deciding to start sharpening the dull blades. She was a _lot_ better than when she'd started at this shortly after being found by the Shepherds. At least she didn't outright break the blade more than once out of ten times.

"Hey there Sev." A familiar voice greeted, her father's familiar coat swishing into view. "We missed you at breakfast."

Severa grunted and kept working on the sword she'd grabbed, expecting him to do his business and leave. Instead, he took a seat across from her and pulled out a game-board. "Hey, mind if you play a game or two with me? You're practically an expert on sharpening those, this'll make it interesting."

"Not in the mood to get my ego destroyed by a board game." Severa snapped, the harsh scrape of stone on steel piercing her ears. "Besides, I bet Morgan's dying to try her latest scheme against you, no point being here with my 'attitude'."

Robin kept smiling at his daughter, unfazed. "Well I enjoy playing these games with you too. You have such a unique perspective on these things, it really keeps me on my toes. Besides, we haven't spent a lot of time together with everything going on, and I want to rectify that as best I can."

Severa looked away and muttered something about being 'just fine without his stupid games'. But, Robin knew her well, and Severa ultimately stopped sharpening the blade. "Alright, fine, sheesh. Beg some more for my company why don't you?"

Robin chuckled and set up the game, one Severa recognized from lazy days back home. "Orcs and Goblins? Why the hell do you have this old thing?"

"I thought it'd be a nice change of pace." Robin laughed, setting the board. "Even I need a break from all those complex boards and rules, so why not do something simple? Besides, simple rules can mean creative strategies."

Severa frowned at him, but they started anyway. It was… really nostalgic to be playing the silly old game again. She even started using the old moves she'd come up with when she was little to win, never knowing until later that her Daddy was letting her win…

"I concede."

Severa snapped out of her thoughts to stare at the board. There was no way he should concede, there was at least a dozen ways he could beat her! "…Not again."

Robin blinked at her, not sure he'd heard her right. "Again?"

"Don't treat me like a kid!" Severa snapped, barely stopping herself from throwing the board away. "Look, go find Morgan or Laurent if you want to play games, I have better things to do than sit here and get the kiddy treatment!"

Robin opened his mouth to deny such accusations, but Severa was already storming away. "…Well, I've made a mess of things again, haven't I?"

He sighed and looked to the remaining weapons and the abandoned game. "Alright then… hopefully I can make this up later."

Severa for her part was already regretting her anger. Dad… Dad had always been good to her, even when everyone compared her to Mother, or Morgan started to be the wonder child. He'd still play games with her, read to her, never looked at her like she was a disappointment…

She sighed, knowing she'd need to apologize to him, when she spotted someone she really didn't want to see. "…Mother."

Cordelia looked up from her list, doubtlessly going over supplies for the fifth time since she woke up. "Oh, Severa! We missed you and Morgan at breakfast, mind telling me why you two were dueling?"

Severa scoffed, of course she already knew. "None of your business."

"My daughters fighting is always my business." Cordelia answered calmly, recognizing a foul mood when she saw one. "Especially when one of them sends the other to Libra. Did Morgan pull a prank?"

Severa paused, not expecting her mother to think it was anyone but her fault for Morgan's state. Unbalanced, she fell back on annoyance. "So what if she did or didn't? She came at me, I put her in the dirt, end of story."

She started to stomp off. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm sure you'll want to go get her side of the story. Just like the 'perfect' little investigator."

A strong hand stopped her, Cordelia crossing the distance in three strides. "Hold on, I'm not done talking to you yet."

"Well I am!" Severa snapped, freeing herself far too easily. "If you want to scold me, do it later, I don't have time for you!"

She stormed off again and Cordelia sighed, ruing yet another misstep. "Oh Severa… one of these days, I hope you'll be able to let go of all that bitterness. I'm not your enemy… especially not my ghost."

She shook her head and got back to work. Hopefully there'd be a more productive talk at dinner… assuming Severa even joined them. But that was no good, so… she needed some help.

Cordelia smirked and dove into her work. The sooner she was done, the sooner she could get everything into motion.

_-Several Hours Later, Severa-_

"Gawds, that patrol never ended!"

Severa groused and growled as she stumbled through camp, night fast approaching. Gerome had insisted on circling the area almost a dozen times _and_ inspecting anything suspicious on foot! It'd gone from a patrol of maybe two hours to an all-day trip! She'd have his hide if they missed dinner because of this!

"Oh, Severa!" A familiar voice greeted as Severa turned the corner towards the mess tent, Lucina stopping just short of running into her friend. "I'm glad you're back! What took so long, we were getting worried?"

Severa couldn't quite keep up her annoyance when faced with her oldest friend. "Well… Gerome decided to be Mr. Paranoid today and make the patrol _so_ much longer than it needed to be. Didn't even find anything, it was all just a waste of time."

Lucina frowned, sympathetic. "Oh, I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I understand that Gerome prefers to be thorough, but I'll have a talk with him about being _too_ thorough. Now then, I bet you're hungry. Come on, let's get some dinner."

Severa's stomach chose to betray her and growl, Lucina chuckling as Severa blushed. The blush deepened as Lucina took Severa's hand, practically dragging her to the mess tent. "I meant to tell you, they decided on beef stew tonight! Apparently Kellam found a bunch of wild onions and carrots!"

That was music to Severa's ears. "Um… who'd they find for kitchen duty? I was, uh… supposed to do it, before the patrol ran long."

Lucina shrugged as they stopped before the mess tent, the usual sounds of the Shepherds eating drifting out of the flaps. "Oh, your mother stepped in, she was going to be on tomorrow's kitchen duty anyway. All she said was that you'd be switching positions."

Severa scowled and looked away. "Making decisions without me again, of course."

Lucina rolled her eyes. "Sev, come on. Let's just get some food in you."

Severa grunted and pulled the tarps aside, stepping in and expecting to find her mother zeroing in on her.

"Surprise!"

She was not expecting everyone to jump up and yell at her. Severa let out a truly impressive screech, almost leaping into Lucina's arms in sheer fright. "What the hell?!"

Morgan laughed heartily as she strode up, pulling cotton from her ears. "Ha! I knew you'd scream, Sis! But these bunch of bozos didn't believe me!"

Severa felt righteous fury blaze through her and she flew from Lucina's arms to start pinching her sister's cheeks. "And what's this about me screaming, huh brat?! You set this up for revenge didn't you?!"

Morgan whined at being pinched. "Whet go ub my cheeps!"

Severa pulled them with a vicious grin. "Well then don't scare me half to death! Just because I got you good in a spar _you _wanted, doesn't mean you can scare me!"

Morgan freed herself and pouted at her sister. "Well sorry for wanting to keep you distracted so we could throw a surprise party!"

"…Surprise party?" Severa asked, dumbfounded. With all her righteous fury gone, a quick look around showed the Shepherds staring at her with smiles, a crude banner with 'Happy Birthday!' written across it pinned on the back of the tent. And there, at the 'head' of them all, stood her parents. "…What?"

"It's not the party we wanted." Robin chuckled at Severa's dumbstruck look. "Nor was it the day we wanted you to have. Really, we only made your mood worse."

Cordelia gestured to the pot next to her, a delicious aroma drifting from it. "So, we hope this makes up for having a crummy birthday, my dear. We… we only wanted you to be happy, even in the midst of all this, but that didn't work out. So… we got this together."

She held up her hands as Severa started to scowl, already knowing what she wanted to say. "And don't think this was some last minute thing just to apologize, we've been planning a party for weeks now. Really, we're just happy we were able to get everything together on time, and get your favorite meal made."

Robin added to the pressure, noting Severa's lip trembling as she tried to keep up her annoyed look. "And not just that either. Come here, your mother and I made something real special."

Severa's scowl weakened as she approached them, Morgan and Lucina following giddily. Once the elder sister was close enough, Robin placed a package on the table and opened it. Severa's scowl vanished, the smell of sweet icing and cinnamon shocking her to the core.

There, on the table, were four beautiful cinnamon rolls. Coated in frosting, still warm as if straight from the oven…

"…why?"

Severa looked up to her parents, emotion choking her voice. "Why… why do this for me? I'm… I'm a bitch, to everyone. I've been nothing but… a terrible person since I've… been here. Why dammit?!"

Cordelia came around the table and embraced Severa. "Because you're our daughter, our family. We know you've come from a horrible place, seen things no one should ever have to see. Even if you can't accept us, even if you hate us… we love you."

Robin approached from the other side, embracing her as well. "And we will always love you, Severa. Even should you one day decide to go your own way, you will always find a home with us. Whatever you may need, we will do all in our power to provide."

He kissed the crown of her head. "I swore as much the moment I first laid eyes on you, both of you."

Morgan completed the hug and simultaneously cut off any hope of escape Severa may have clung too. "And I couldn't ask for a better sister! Sure we get on each other's nerves, even get into fights, but that's what sisters are for! You've had my back for so long, just let me thank you for once, dammit!"

She squeezed her sister tightly, feeling Severa start to silently sob. "You've always had to be the strong one, and you've been the strong one ever since we came back. Just… let go for tonight. Please?"

Severa trembled under the warmth and affection, but was able to squeeze her way free. All watched her as she stepped out of her family's embrace, Severa's head down and eyes shadowed by her bangs. The tent held its breath, waiting to see what she'd do.

Severa reached out and grabbed one of the sweet delicacies, taking the warm roll in hand. A breath filled her mind with the delicious smell, memories of better times, happier times, rising to the surface. She took a bite, letting the sweet taste roll over her tongue.

And she started to sob.

Every bite was followed by a stream of tears, sobs choked past the love she felt in every morsel. She didn't want it to end, didn't want the sweet stream of joyful tears to stop. Severa fell to her knees and kept eating, openly crying for all to see.

Her family swooped in and the Shepherds vacated, letting them have their time with their daughter.

"Mommy… Daddy… Morg…" Severa wept around her greatest gift in years. "Thank you… thank you for… putting up with… this complete bitch… of a daughter…"

No one said anything, letting the warmth of their arms and the love of their presence do all the talking for them.

And for the first time in many years.

Severa finally had a happy birthday.


End file.
